Group owners and managers can assign roles to members of their groups. Within a group, each role has certain permissions that determine who can view, post, and moderate content and manage members in that group.
About the default roles
Each group has 3 default roles that can be assigned to members.
OwnerBy default, members with the owner role have all permissions for a group. Many of these permissions can be assigned to other sets of users. Review all member and content management permissions.
Only an owner can:
- Delete a group.
- Make another group member an owner.
- Change another owner’s settings.
- Export group messages using Google Takeout.
Only group owners and managers can change a group’s settings.
If you’re signed into a work or school account, for a given group, an administrator can remove some owner permissions, but not others:
- Can remove—Post messages or add, invite, or approve new members.
- Cannot remove—View members or conversations or contact other owners.
A group can’t be the owner of another group.
Administrators are automatically assigned the owner role for all groups in an organization, including groups that users create.
Recommended
Assigning someone the owner role gives them the greatest control over the group, so we recommend keeping the number of owners low.
By default, managers can do everything that owners can do except:
- Delete the group.
- Make another member an owner.
- Change an owner’s role or subscription settings.
Group owners can set any permission to owner-only, further limiting what managers can do. However, managers always have the ability to adjust permissions to include managers.
A group can’t be a manager of another group.
By default, group members have basic permissions. Depending on the organization and group settings, these permissions might include viewing and posting to conversations and viewing members. Group owners and managers can add to or limit members’ permissions. Any permissions that are set for the member role are automatically given to managers and owners.
Change a member’s default role
Requires the Who can manage members permission.
Group members with the correct permission can assign the manager or member role to other members. Only group owners can give other members the owner role.
To change a member’s custom role, see Add members to a custom role.
- Sign in to Google Groups.
- Click the name of a group.
- On the left, click Members.
- To assign a role to a single member—Point to a member and in the Role column, select a role.
- To assign a role to multiple members:
- Point to each member whose settings you want to change and check the box next to their name.
- Above the list on the right, click Change role
.
- Select the new role.
Create and add members to custom roles
If you want a role that’s different from the default roles, you can create a custom role. Some permissions can only be given to owners, managers, and members and not to custom roles.
Create or edit a custom role
Requires the Who can modify custom roles permission.
- Sign in to Google Groups.
- Click the name of a group.
- On the left, click Group settings
Member moderation.
- Under Custom roles, click Create custom role.
- Enter a name and description for the new role.
Name the role something that can be shared publicly and is singular (for example, “Contributor,” not “Contributors”). - Click Create role.
- To edit the role name or description:
- Under Custom roles, next to the role name, click Edit
.
- Enter a new name or description.
- Click Save changes.
- Under Custom roles, next to the role name, click Edit
Add members to a custom role
Requires the Who can manage members permission.
Only members who are already in the group can be added to a custom role. If a member is later removed from the group, they are automatically removed from the custom role.
- Sign in to Google Groups.
- Click the name of a group.
- On the left, click Group settings
- Under Custom roles, next to the role name, click Edit
- Enter the member’s email address.
- When the member’s entry appears, select it. Or, to select the first entry displayed, press Enter or Return.
- (Optional) Repeat steps 5 and 6 to add additional members to the role.
- Click Add members.
Next steps
After you create and add members to roles, you can assign permissions to those roles. Visit Set permissions for managing a group.
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